By Dr. Jan Southern, J. DelSUR Marketing Group
Have you noticed how quickly technology is moving these days? It seems like last week I was using a Blackberry device and browsing a bookstore when I needed to learn how to do something. Now, I just pull out my iPhone and the answer is at my fingertips.
If you are a business owner, you may have noticed that marketing is moving at a fairly fast pace these days as well. Luckily, I love this industry. I am a marketing nerd. It is my passion and I love sharing what I know with my clients. If I don’t have the answer, I am confident I have a colleague or business partner who does.
As part of this mild obsession, I stay current on the latest trends. One of the biggest issues facing marketing today is the changes to third party cookies from Google. Google will be ending the ability to track consumers via cookies. If you don’t know what that means, it’s okay. You may be using a marketing consultant to handle these things for you and that is great. You don’t have to worry about what to do now that Google is yet again, changing how we do business. You just need to know that they are.
What it means for consumers is they will have a bit more control over their privacy online.
What it means for your business is that you will have to get more creative and also, be sure to have direct information about your customers rather than relying on algorithms and other tracking to tell you about a buyer’s behaviors online.
2022 will bring even more changes to marketing for business. Below are a few areas to focus on now.
- Start with a Strong Brand
As you will see from #2 and #3 below, marketing is going to get even more competitive and challenging in the near future. No amount of social media posting, advertising or networking will trump a bad brand image. Invest time and resources into having a solid brand—both visually and with the brand experience consumers and clients have when they interact with your company. Is your message targeted to specific audience types? Is the voice and tone used for your company consistent across all platforms? Do your employees speak in a consistent way when representing your brand? Are you providing the level of quality and service that you tout in your marketing and advertising? If not, do this before anything else. A strong brand is the foundation for everything else.
- Take Back Your Audiences
I have been shouting this from the rooftops (well not literally) for months now. We do not own our contacts on social media. In other words, all those people you engage with on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. will disappear if those social media platforms go away or decide to stop allowing you to access them.
Think about it. Do you have another source to reach out to those contacts other than on the social media platform? If Facebook went away today, can you contact that person who asked a question about your product two hours ago? The answer is no. Facebook owns that contact.
Now more than ever, it is important to use a CRM system and gain more data on your customers and prospects rather than relying on Facebook to do the work for you.
- Find Other Ways to Reach Your Audience Besides Social Media
I know this is painful for many small business owners. We rely on social media to reach our potential customers. It is cheap, easy and we can see the results of our efforts within hours if not minutes.
But it is a noisy place. Did you know that only 2-3% of your followers even see what you post on your page? And with 6 million companies on Facebook competing for their attention, it can be difficult and expensive to stand out from the crowd.
Don’t get me wrong, social media is still a critical tool in our marketing arsenal. But now is the time to start thinking about broadening your weapons so that you are not left behind in 2022. If you would like some fresh ideas, be sure to read my article on Local Marketing at JDelSURMarketing.com/local
- Get Personal
Our customers have many choices as to where to get their information. They are quite savvy and expect you to know their specific wants and needs. More and more, they are ignoring cookie-cutter marketing messages. It is important to understand what your customers like, where they spend their time and how they get information (i.e., Facebook, retail stores, hobbies, etc.).
Also, address them by name in emails, messenger or when they walk into your store. Spend some time building your buyer personas (customer avatars) for each of your ideal customers or those customers that buy most often. We have a worksheet to help with this. Feel free to email me for a free copy.
- Embrace Marketing Automation
Marketing automation is the use of online platforms and software to streamline marketing efforts and allow you to reach your audiences in multiple ways more easily. This will change your life and your business—trust me.
But a word of caution, don’t subscribe to these platforms without having a solid marketing plan before you choose your tools. (see #6)
- Have a Marketing Plan
Don’t spend a dime on marketing or advertising before doing this. In my business, I see so many owners and managers deciding on advertising or social media marketing without really knowing why they are doing it or what they want people to know about their product or service. They know they need to promote their business so they just put something out and it isn’t impactful, memorable or all that effective.
Have a strong brand (see #1) and have a marketing plan before anything else. Even if your plan is just one page and gives you a strategy for the next 3 months, be strategic in your efforts. This will save you valuable time and money in the long run.
If you would like a short course on how to create a marketing plan, email me at Jan@JDelSURMarketing.com and I will send it to you for free.
If you\’d like to take your marketing to the next level, sign up for 11 one-to-one sessions with me.